With regard to the Coptic merchant who is being forced to sell his assets under the supervision of a Salafist sheikh:

Quote

On Wednesday February 1, a hastily organized reconciliation meeting was arranged by security authorities, and was attended by Ebeskharion Soliman and one of his sons.

The terms of the agreement which resulted were:

eviction of eight Coptic families, namely three of the Mourad families, in addition to five Soliman families.selling of the assets of the wealthy Abeskhayron Soliman family within three months by a committee, under the supervision of Salafi shaikh Sherif el Hawary. Soliman has no right to get involved in the sale or even accompany a prospective buyer.the Committee is to collect any money accrued from the sale of his land, properties, businesses as well as collect promissory notes pending from business transactions by the Soliman-owned chain of stores.in case of non-implementation of this Agreement, all Copts in the Kobry-el-Sharbat village will be attacked, their homes and property completely torched.Abeskhayron Soliman signed the agreement, which most Copts viewed as "humiliating."

...

Wissa Fawzi, member of the Maspero Coptic Youth Union in Alexandria, said that Soliman has nothing at all to do with the Mourad story, but signed the agreement to save his family and the Copts in the village, "otherwise there would have been a massacre of the Copts on that Friday." He said that Security authorities pressured Soliman into accepting the terms of the agreement by threatening him with refusal of police protection for him and his family. "What constitutes the real crisis is the complicity of security officials in the process of displacement," said Fawzi.

Every time a chance for the world to lend her hand and publicly chastise Egypt for the handling of minorities occur, the Copts in Egypt would be the first ones to stand and say "we'll handle our own problems without your help, thank you!" So, we protest, but Egypt does not accept. I don't know which to take sides on though. Because of the world is involved, especially the US, one wonders if it makes the situation against the Copts even worse, now that they might be teeter-tottering on isolating the rest of the country as if they're non-citizens.

The best solution is to find a MLK-like individual who would stand up and revolutionize Egypt's thinking and support. But of course, how can this work in a country that for sure by law might kill us for questioning the authority in a non-aggressive manner? We can only pray.

I can understand that the Copts are afraid of retaliation of they go to outside organizations for help; However, it seems the people coming into power in Egypt are bent on eliminating the Copts regardless of what they do or don't do.

Every time a chance for the world to lend her hand and publicly chastise Egypt for the handling of minorities occur, the Copts in Egypt would be the first ones to stand and say "we'll handle our own problems without your help, thank you!" So, we protest, but Egypt does not accept. I don't know which to take sides on though. Because of the world is involved, especially the US, one wonders if it makes the situation against the Copts even worse, now that they might be teeter-tottering on isolating the rest of the country as if they're non-citizens.

The best solution is to find a MLK-like individual who would stand up and revolutionize Egypt's thinking and support. But of course, how can this work in a country that for sure by law might kill us for questioning the authority in a non-aggressive manner? We can only pray.

I can understand that the Copts are afraid of retaliation of they go to outside organizations for help; However, it seems the people coming into power in Egypt are bent on eliminating the Copts regardless of what they do or don't do.

I'm just waiting for one activist to step up and to lead the minorities of Egypt into a non-aggressive manner of equal rights, despite the many killings that might occur. It must be done in a wise manner, mixing with moderate and liberal Muslims to turn it into an Egyptian issue. And it must be done with an emphasis on love for country, so that those who attack them attack Egypt. No one should be able to make a case against you when you hold your flag up high side-by-side with Muslims preaching for Coptic and other minority rights.

So far, no protest ever showed that yet.

« Last Edit: February 13, 2012, 05:01:59 PM by minasoliman »

Logged

Vain existence can never exist, for "unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain." (Psalm 127)

If the faith is unchanged and rock solid, then the gates of Hades never prevailed in the end.

The Coptic Winter: What Does the Massacre at Maspero Mean for Egypt's Christians? Hudson Institute, October 19, 2011

Samuel Tadros and Kurt Werthmuller, research fellows at Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, and Eric Trager, Ira Weiner Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Center director Nina Shea will moderate the discussion

(AINA) — A mob of nearly 20,000 radical Muslims, mainly Salafis, attempted this evening to break into and torch the Church of St. Mary and St. Abram in the village of Meet Bashar,in Zagazig, Sharqia province. They were demanding the death of Reverend Guirgis Gameel, pastor of the church, who has been unable to leave his home since yesterday. Nearly 100 terrorized Copts sought refuge inside the church, while Muslim rioters were pelting the church with stones in an effort to break into the church, assault the Copts and torch the building. A home of a Copt living near the church and the home of the church’s porter were torched, as well as three cars.

The mob demanded the return Rania of Khalil Ibrahim, 15, to her father. She has been held with the Security Directorate since yesterday. Christian-born Rania had converted to Islam three months ago after her father, who had converted to Islam two years ago and took custody of her. She had disappeared from the village on Saturday, after claiming to go shopping. According to Reverend Guirgis Gameel, she had a disagreement with her father, who had arranged a marriage for her with a Muslim man.

It needs to be mentioned that some of the Muslims in the village acted to protect their Coptic neighbors from the Salafis:

Quote

Some Coptic eyewitnesses said that a number of Muslim villagers tried to prevent the Salafis from assaulting their Christian neighbors and some stood as human shields to protect the church, until security forces arrived.

WASHINGTON, -- Christian Solidarity International Board Member Michele Clark testified on Capitol Hill today about the continued abuse of Coptic females in Egypt, a nation struggling to come together in the aftermath of this Spring's Arab revolution.

The U.S. Helsinki Commission, more formally known as The U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, held today's hearing to examine the recent escalation of violence toward Coptic Christians in Egypt, as well as reports of disappearances, forced conversions and forced marriages of Coptic women and girls.

Clark, who also serves as an adjunct professor at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, told the Commission that there is no denying these reports

Egypt's faceless enemyThe suffering of Egypt's Christians is there for all to see — their churches have come under attack and people have died — but not the perpetratorsBy Raghda El Halawany, Special to Weekend ReviewFebruary 24, 2012

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The clashes started when thousands of Copts — joined by sympathetic Muslim activists — demonstrated in front of the "Maspero" building, the headquarters of the state TV, against the destruction of a church near Aswan, allegedly by a mob incited by a mosque preacher.

The protests turned violent leaving about 27, mostly Christian, demonstrators dead. Fourteen of them were crushed under military armoured vehicles, and more than 300 others were injured. No clear official investigation has been conducted. While Human Rights Watch claimed the military used excessive force against the demonstration, facts remain few amid the rumours and speculations.

"It was the most violent incident since the January 2011 revolution, but until now every time there is an incident, nothing happens, no one is charged or arrested. Offenders have to pay for what they have done to the churches and to the Christians," said Mina Girgis, a Coptic activist and one of the January 2011 revolutionists.

Quote

Father Filopater Gameel, a Coptic priest, a leading member of the Maspero Youth Union and an eyewitness to the Maspero massacre, had this to say. "I am not surprised that the Islamists won the parliament majority. There were many hints in recent months that they were going to easily win many seats. That they were insisting the elections take place while all the other political forces were pleading that the elections be postponed indicates that both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists made a deal with the military council."

Stronger statements were made by some Coptic intellectuals, including Milad Hanna, who warned that Copts, himself included, would embark on collective emigration from Egypt if the Muslim Brotherhood ascended to power.

Despite facing criticism, Hanna stuck to his words, which were published by Al Arabi newspaper: "I have sensed the state of anxiety after the results of the recent elections, as if Egypt was going to turn into a theocracy in a matter of weeks," he said, adding that the Copts fear that they could become "second-class citizens" under the Brotherhood.

Quote

Traditionally, the church and its head, Pope Shenouda, don't get involved in politics, focusing instead on the social aspects of the community. However, the present situation has pushed priests to encourage Copts to vote as a bloc to secure a minimum representation in the parliament.

To counter the Muslim Brotherhood, some clerics encouraged their parishioners to vote for the secular Egyptian Bloc, made up of both Muslim and Christian candidates. The Egyptian Bloc, newly founded by Christian business tycoon Sawiris, is a mix of mainly three parties: neo-liberal Free Egyptians, the socialist Gathering Party and the Egyptian Socialist Democrats. There are smaller Coptic parties, but for many Copts, a separation of religion and government is in their interests both as Egyptians and as Christians to defend themselves against the potential introduction of Islam into politics.

"We picked the Egyptian Bloc because it's the most liberal group and because they are against religious parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood," Father Ishak, a priest at St Mark's, said. "And if elections are free and fair, it will mean that Copts are more clearly represented and be more active in building a new Egypt."

Egyptian Christian Sentened to 6 Years in Prison for 'Insulting the Prophet'

(AINA) -- In the latest in a series of "defamation of religion" cases, an appeal has been filed on behalf of a Egyptian Christian who was sentenced to six years in prison for "insulting the Prophet." Legal observers saw many flaws in the ruling of the judge of the Abanoub misdemeanor court, in Assiut province, while others accused him of appeasing a mob of 2500 Muslims who congregated outside the court and demanded the death penalty for the defendant, Makram Diab. Eyewitnesses reported that some of the Muslims carried knives and wanted to break into the court and kill Diab, but were blocked by the police.

Diab's Muslim defense lawyer, Ahmad Sayed Gabali, said that during his 18 years as lawyer, he has never experienced what he went through in this case. "Over 80 Islamist lawyers representing civil rights claimants filled the court, locked the door of the court from the inside, not allowing the judge out, and prevented me as the defense lawyer from going inside the court and defending my client."

A discussion on February 9 between the Makram Diab, who is a school secretary, and a Salafi school teacher became heated but then simply ended. Thirteen days later, on February 23, another teacher named Abdel-Hamid, who was not present during the quarrel or even at school on that day, filed a complaint with the police, signed by another 11 teachers, accusing Makram Diab of insulting Islam's prophet. "This was a normal quarrel between him and the Muslim teacher," said Gabali, "which could happen anywhere. It was provoked by the teacher, who has been transferred several times from different schools after being reprimanded for causing sedition, and was used by the Salafis for their benefit. This is a group of teachers who used Diab as a scapegoat."

Assailants uncharged, but clergyman gets six months in jail for building violation.

CAIRO, Egypt, March 7 (CDN)

— A priest in Egypt was sentenced this week to six months in jail for a minor construction violation at his church building, while no one in a mob that burned the same structure down has been arrested.

The Rev. Makarious Bolous of the Mar Gerges Church in Aswan was sentenced on Sunday (March 4), but neither the imams who called for the attack nor the Muslim villagers who destroyed the church building last September have been charged with any crime.

Bolous said the ruling, coupled with the absence of prosecution against those who burned down the church building, is clear evidence of persecution and a legal double standard between Christians and Muslims.

(AINA) — More than 300 Muslim lawyers inside and outside a courthouse in the southern Egyptian province of Assuit today prevented defense lawyer Ahmad Sayed Gabali, who is representing the Christian Makarem Diab, from going into court. Mr. Diab was found guilty of ‘Insulting the Muslim Prophet’ and was scheduled today a hearing on his appeal.

Attorney Dr. Naguib Gabriell, head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organization, said there was “terror in the Assiut Court today.” He added that he was on his way to court when he was advised that Muslim lawyers have issued death threats to any Christian lawyers who attend the court session. “Makram Diab was assaulted by Muslim lawyers during his transfer from the courtroom and security failed to protect him.”

Peter Sarwat, a Coptic lawyer, said that Muslim lawyers representing the plaintiffs prevented the defense team from entering court. “They said no Muslim will defend a Christian. It was agreed that Christian lawyers would take over and two Coptic lawyers volunteered, but the Muslims decided later that even Christians would not defend him.” Sarwat said the Muslim lawyers wanted to assault the chief judge but he managed to leave the court via a rear door.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (Uscirf) has released its latest report, which identifies the 16 worst countries in terms of religious persecution. Egypt, of course is one if them:

Quote

In many cases the persecution is at the hands of the government, as, for example, in China, Burma, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, but often, in places like Nigeria and Iraq, it is committed by religious extremists and vigilantes in the society who operate within a climate of impunity. In Pakistan and Egypt persecution is sponsored by all three — the authorities, extremist groups, and vigilantes.

Persecution is intensifying now in the Muslim world, as documented throughout the Uscirf report. Each year, the report’s cover reflects a signal event in the global landscape of religious persecution. This year’s bears a photo of Egyptian mourners gathered in central Cairo on October 13, 2011, in honor of some 25 Coptic Christians killed days before by the Egyptian military during a demonstration over an attack on a church. The commission decided it was important to single out the Copts. There are rising fears for them now that Egypt will be governed by Islamists, some of whom, notably from the sizeable Wahhabi or Salafist parliamentarian faction, have openly declared their intent of religious cleansing.

The article does fortunately mention that most Muslims do not share those sentiments.

The last three paragraphs of the article are remarkable in what they report about one of the Salafi leaders, Sheik Wagdy Ghoneim:

Quote

Shenouda was buried on Tuesday (March 20) in the Monastery of St. Bishoy in Wadi el-Natrun, with several thousand followers attending. Before Shenouda was buried, Naguib Ghobrial, lawyer and head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights, filed suit on Monday (March 19) against Ghoneim for contempt of a revealed religion.

Undeterred, Ghoneim released a statement the next day denying any wrongdoing and issued a challenge to all Christians.

“You believe in your Bible and say its words are holy,” he concluded. [Your Bible teaches] ‘Love your enemies and bless all who curse you.’ Your enemies – you love them and those who curse you – you bless them. So I say, God curse you! Bless me now. Bless me. Isn’t this your religion? I am going to say it again – I am your enemy, and I say, God curse you. Now, say it, ‘We love you Wagdy. And God bless you Wagdy.’”

The article does fortunately mention that most Muslims do not share those sentiments.

The last three paragraphs of the article are remarkable in what they report about one of the Salafi leaders, Sheik Wagdy Ghoneim:

Quote

Shenouda was buried on Tuesday (March 20) in the Monastery of St. Bishoy in Wadi el-Natrun, with several thousand followers attending. Before Shenouda was buried, Naguib Ghobrial, lawyer and head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights, filed suit on Monday (March 19) against Ghoneim for contempt of a revealed religion.

Undeterred, Ghoneim released a statement the next day denying any wrongdoing and issued a challenge to all Christians.

“You believe in your Bible and say its words are holy,” he concluded. [Your Bible teaches] ‘Love your enemies and bless all who curse you.’ Your enemies – you love them and those who curse you – you bless them. So I say, God curse you! Bless me now. Bless me. Isn’t this your religion? I am going to say it again – I am your enemy, and I say, God curse you. Now, say it, ‘We love you Wagdy. And God bless you Wagdy.’”

Regarding the words of Sheikh Wagdy Ghoneim in the final paragraph, a columnist from Touchstone Magazine had this to say:

Quote

During his illness, I and others in our church, along with Christians worldwide, prayed for Pope Shenouda asking God for his recovery. In a recent interview, Bishop Mouneer Anis, head of the Episcopal and Anglican Diocese of Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, said of Pope Shenouda, “He was a friend of many Muslim leaders. He was a peacemaker. He was even criticized by Christians for making peace with those who persecuted the church.” Shortly before his passing, Pope Shenouda’s last public meeting was with members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Pope Shenouda III left a powerful witness for the Lord Jesus Christ and a legacy of struggle for the freedom of persecuted Christians in Egypt. As our Lord taught, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” May the memory of this son of God, Pope Shenouda III, be eternal! As for Sheik Ghoneim, I am praying that he become a great Christian evangelist and apologist to the people of the Middle East. Perhaps even on his next trip to Damascus. Such things have happened before.

CAIRO- An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced a 17-year-old Christian boy to three years in jail for publishing cartoons on his Facebook page that mocked Islam and the Prophet Mohammad, actions that sparked sectarian violence.

Gamal Abdou Massoud was also accused of distributing some of his cartoons to his school friends in a village in the southern city of Assiut, home to a large Christian population and the hometown of the late Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda.

...

The cartoons, published by Massoud in December, prompted some Muslims to attack Christians. Several Christian houses were burned and several Christians were injured in the violence.

CAIRO- An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced a 17-year-old Christian boy to three years in jail for publishing cartoons on his Facebook page that mocked Islam and the Prophet Mohammad, actions that sparked sectarian violence.

Gamal Abdou Massoud was also accused of distributing some of his cartoons to his school friends in a village in the southern city of Assiut, home to a large Christian population and the hometown of the late Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda.

...

The cartoons, published by Massoud in December, prompted some Muslims to attack Christians. Several Christian houses were burned and several Christians were injured in the violence.

Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

On April 24 the panel of judges appointed by the Egyptian minister of justice to investigate the Maspero massacre of October 9, 2011, which claimed the lives of 27 Christians and injured 329, closed the case. In his explanation of the verdict, judge Sarwat Hammad said the case was closed for “lack of identification of the culprits” who killed the army conscript Mohammad Shata and nine protesters (all Christians) with ammunition, as well as attempting to break into a government building and assaulting military personnel.

Charges against 28 Christian Copts and prominent Muslim activist Alaa Abdel-Fatah, who were previously detained, were also dropped for lack of evidence, said the judge. According to their defense lawyers, most of the detainees were arrested after October 9, and some were not even at the Maspero protest and were collected from the streets for just being Christians. Three of them were teens under 16. The judge referred two Copts, Michael Adel Naguib and Michael Shaker, to the criminal court for allegedly stealing a heavy-duty machine gun from one of the military armored vehicle and “using it to kill Copts” during the Maspero protest. According to Naguib’s father, the army and police raided their home in the early hours two days after the massacre and found nothing at home. He said they beat his son and took him away in his underwear.

...

The second part of the case is the trial by a military court of three conscripts, who were driving the military armored vehicles which crushed 14 Copts under their wheels. They are charged with involuntary manslaughter, a misdemeanor which under the Penal Code carries penalties of imprisonment of not more than seven years. Eyewitnesses and video clips showed the armored vehicles chasing protesters over the pavements.

Mary's parents stayed up throughout the night waiting anxiously for their daughter's return. Mary's father filed a report at the police station the next morning. He stayed at the station the entire day, determined to see that an investigation was being carried out. Late that afternoon, the police told him they had found his daughter.

Mary was escorted along with several other women into the station by four men in Islamic dress with long beards. The men were Salafis, a group that follows the strict doctrine of Wahhabi Islam from Saudi Arabia. Mary was covered head to toe in a burka. "[My husband] recognized her by her shoes," Magda told ICC.

Two armed policemen stood by, watching the father's every move. When he called Mary by name, a Muslim man hit her in the face. There was no answer....

The Copts in diaspora need to organize themselves better, to deal with what is going on in their homeland. I think it would be possible to get other Christian organizations around the world on board. A boycott of Egypt's tourist industry would be very appropriate, and not impossible.

The Armenians in diaspora organized after the Genocide, and the Republic of Turkey has not had any rest. They still refuse to recognize the Genocide, and they are still very repressive toward what is left of their Christian and other minorities, but at least they don't have an easy time of it:

March 26, 2012 - 13:26 AMTPanARMENIAN.Net - The issue of the Armenian Genocide was discussed at the meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the nuclear summit in Seoul.

In particular, Erdogan complained to Obama about Turkey being tired of the Genocide problem.

The Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) has been on a rampage in recent years, filing lawsuits against scholars, public officials, and civic groups who support the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

Last week, a federal appeals court put an end to TCA's legal tirade against the University of Minnesota by unanimously upholding a federal court's decision dismissing TCA's baseless allegations.

The Turkish advocacy group had filed a lawsuit against Prof. Bruno Chaouat, Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota, for labeling TCA's website and others as “unreliable.” The university's webpage had posted the following stern admonition to students: “We do not recommend these sites. Warnings should be given to students writing papers that they should not use these sites because of denial, support by an unknown organization, or contents that are a strange mix of fact and opinion.”

Hard-line Salafi Muslims cut off Copt’s ear, terrorize his family.ISTANBUL, May 9 (CDN) — A judge in Upper Egypt has dismissed all charges against a group of Salafi Muslims who cut off the ear of a Christian in a knife attack and tried to force him to convert.

The Salafists, who say they base their religion on the practices of the first three generations of Muslims after Muhammad, had falsely accused 46-year-old Ayman Anwar Metry of having an affair with a Muslim woman, the Christian told Compass. On April 22 the judge exonerated the assailants only after Metry, under intense pressure in a “reconciliation meeting,” agreed to drop charges, said his attorney, Asphoure Wahieb Hekouky.

“Him dropping the case and accepting the reconciliation meeting is shameful,” Hekouky said of the Egyptian justice system.

The same Salafi Muslims who attacked Metry terrorized him and his family for a year, Hekouky said.

may God have mercy and give them all perfect peace.my friends came back from egypt recently.things are very expensive and everyone is struggling.there is massive youth unemployment and general lawlessness against both Christians and muslims.in all this our brothers and sister are struggling the most.

may God bring us peace and wisdom and grant us a kind and wise leader who can show us have to live for Jesus in these difficult times.

Last month CBS’s “60 Minutes” show earned itself some justified criticism for a biased report about the treatment of Palestinian Christians by Israel. As Alana noted then, the premise of the piece — that routine security precautions on the part of Israeli forces has led to a decline in the Christian population in the West Bank — was preposterous. Why would Israeli measures cause Christian numbers to diminish but not affect the rapidly growing Muslim population? Only a determination to blame Israel for everything could have led the “60 Minutes” team to avoid the obvious explanation: the rise of militant Islam in traditional Christian strongholds that has gradually forced many Christians to flee the country. Israel remains the only country in the Middle East where the rights of the Christian minority — which is growing — are respected.

But the pushback against this calumny requires more background than just a fact check about the West Bank. The Gatestone Institute has published an important online monthly report about Muslim persecution of Christians throughout Asia and Africa and it makes for frightening reading. Even a brief summary of the litany of horrors being visited upon Christians by Muslims puts the ridiculous accusations against Israel in perspective.

* Attacks on churches took place in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan and Tunisia.

* Christians were threatened with death and imprisonment for “blasphemy” and apostasy in Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran and Pakistan. At the same time, Muslim terrorists have threatened Christian pastors in the Philippines.

* In a separate category called “dhimmitude,” the report discusses the “general abuse, debasement, and suppression of non-Muslims as tolerated citizens.” Such incidents were recorded in Egypt, India, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.

The widespread scope of incidents of persecution throughout the Muslim world ought to alarm Christians in the West. But for some reason, it doesn’t. The Palestinians, whose goal is to eradicate the one Jewish state in the world, seem to generate more sympathy in Europe and America than the embattled Christians of the Third World.All this took place in April of this year alone.

Those who purport to care about human rights undermine their already shaky credibility when they ignore the far greater instances of abuse of Christians by Arabs and Muslims while supporting the delegitimization of the one democracy in the Middle East as well as the one nation in the region that protects Christians.

Last month CBS’s “60 Minutes” show earned itself some justified criticism for a biased report about the treatment of Palestinian Christians by Israel. As Alana noted then, the premise of the piece — that routine security precautions on the part of Israeli forces has led to a decline in the Christian population in the West Bank — was preposterous. Why would Israeli measures cause Christian numbers to diminish but not affect the rapidly growing Muslim population? Only a determination to blame Israel for everything could have led the “60 Minutes” team to avoid the obvious explanation: the rise of militant Islam in traditional Christian strongholds that has gradually forced many Christians to flee the country. Israel remains the only country in the Middle East where the rights of the Christian minority — which is growing — are respected.

BS.

To reach those conclusions the writer jumped over a few obvious facts-like Muslims also are emigrating, and that any emigration hits a minority (which the Christians are) harder.

As for the rise of militant Islam, the Zionists were the ones who funded Hamas in the first place (in an effort to divide and conquer the PLO. Be careful what you wish for).

But the pushback against this calumny requires more background than just a fact check about the West Bank. The Gatestone Institute has published an important online monthly report about Muslim persecution of Christians throughout Asia and Africa and it makes for frightening reading. Even a brief summary of the litany of horrors being visited upon Christians by Muslims puts the ridiculous accusations against Israel in perspective.

* Attacks on churches took place in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan and Tunisia.

* Christians were threatened with death and imprisonment for “blasphemy” and apostasy in Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran and Pakistan. At the same time, Muslim terrorists have threatened Christian pastors in the Philippines.

* In a separate category called “dhimmitude,” the report discusses the “general abuse, debasement, and suppression of non-Muslims as tolerated citizens.” Such incidents were recorded in Egypt, India, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.

The widespread scope of incidents of persecution throughout the Muslim world ought to alarm Christians in the West. But for some reason, it doesn’t. The Palestinians, whose goal is to eradicate the one Jewish state in the world, seem to generate more sympathy in Europe and America than the embattled Christians of the Third World.

Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

You don't seem to like Jews and Israel. You know what, the creation of the state of Israel is the best thing that happened in that part of the world for the past 1400 years. We Ethiopians love Jews and Israel!

You don't seem to like Jews and Israel. You know what, the creation of the state of Israel is the best thing that happened in that part of the world for the past 1400 years. We Ethiopians love Jews and Israel!

The Zionists' neighbors know them better.

I didn't say a thing against Jews. Your Zionist goggles ar making you confuse Judaism with Zionism.

If the Ethiopians loved the Jews so much, why did the Falashas leave?

Logged

Question a friend, perhaps he did not do it; but if he did anything so that he may do it no more.A hasty quarrel kindles fire,and urgent strife sheds blood.If you blow on a spark, it will glow;if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come out of your mouth

Below is more on the story on the 12 Copts who were convicted, which is related to the subject matter of this thread. A discussion on the treatment of Christians in Israel would belong in another section.

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On 21 May, Egypt's State Security Council sentenced 12 Christians to life in prison and acquitted eight Muslims. The Christians were found guilty of sowing public strife, possession of illegal weapons, and killing two Muslims in an April 2011 episode of violence that took place in Minya province, about 220 kilometers south of Cairo.

The violence was spurred on after a Muslim bus driver became angry over a speed bump in front of a wealthy Christian's home. The bus driver got into an argument with security guards who then beat him up.

After returning back to his village, Abu Qurqas, a group of Muslims gathered near an ultraconservative Islamist group's office to protest the beating. Christians nearby began to shoot at the crowd, killing two and injuring two, when they thought they were going to be attacked. Following the attack, Muslim villagers burnt down several Christian homes and businesses. The eight Muslims that were acquitted were charged with possession of illegal weapons and burning down Christian-owned homes and businesses.

Many rights groups criticized the verdict as being "unbelievable" and "extremely harsh" towards the Copts. All the Muslims defendants, "who torched at least 56 Coptic homes, as well as businesses and barns, were acquitted," said Wagdi Halfa, defense attorney of the Coptic victims, in an interview aired yesterday by Coptic TV Channel. He expressed his incomprehension at how Coptic lawyer Alaa Reda Roushdi, who was not even in Abou Qorqas during the events, and then kept under house arrest by the police for another three days, could get life imprisonment.

Adel Roushdi, younger brother of Alaa Roushdi said during the same TV interview that the Islamists wanted to get rid of his brother because of the parliamentary elections, where his brother was sure to win. He accused the police chief in Abou Qorqas of planning the whole episode.

Christians in Egypt: A storm within the stormThe country's 'orphaned' Coptic minority is still hurting seven months after 27 died at the hands of the military.Lauren E. Bohn and Omnia Al Desoukie, May 23, 2012 10:40

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But, as it turned out, Maspero was not so much a turning point for Copts as it was an open wound, and one that Mossad says is still healing. Copts have suffered discrimination throughout hundreds of years of history in Egypt. Individual Copts have also been great Egyptian nationalists and leading thinkers, industrialists and artists who are frequently quick to point out that Muslims and Christians are like brothers in Egypt. It’s a complex relationship – as fraught as any sibling rivalry. But what is clear as Egypt takes its first faltering steps toward electing a civilian president, is that a democracy and the constitution upon which it is based are defined in how the rights of minorities are protected. Today Copts are left wondering and worrying about their place in a new Egypt.